Worship Together Blog

Gear Review: The Blue Bluebird

Engineers all have different perspectives on gear and studio necessities.  For me the biggest impact for studio recording is the Mic and Preamp.  There are distinct differences on products within various  price ranges.  For this review think microphones ranging from $200 to $500.  Within this budget I believe the Bluebird by Blue Microphones is the best bang for the buck.  Blue engineered this mic to be an all purpose large diaphragm condenser…and that’s exactly what it is. 

The Bluebird is a great vocal mic and works really well with instrument micing as well.  It sounds big with an open top end and big low end.  If you are using a $100 - $200 microphone you will notice a big difference in the detail and size of sound coming from this microphone.  I use to own a cheap large diaphragm condenser that was made in China.  The low price point and hyped reviews made large promises.  I loved the mic for a year and then came to realize everything I recorded with it was sounding harsh and too bright.  The substance just wasn’t there.  Depth and size comes with better microphones.  The Bluebird definitely differentiates itself from cheap Chinese microphones.  It achieves the size, depth, detail, and clarity that I find in mics up to $700.  With budgets over $500 there are different choices I would start to make but for any budget under $500 you are going to be quite happy. 

I do have one small complaint on this microphone.  It comes with a very cool pop filter and a shock mount but the accessories are a pain to take on and off.  As long as you don’t have this mic in a tough climate I would probably just leave it in the shock mount and with the pop filter on.

You can get it now at MusiciansFriend.com for $299 and if you need a way to get audio into your computer - check out the Blue Icicle!

(Reviewed by Jeff Gunkel, our studio manager)

Gear Corner: Blue Snowball USB Mic

Want to turn your office or bedroom into a studio for $100?  Blue Microphones has developed a USB condenser microphone that is an all-in-one solution for a number of applications.  The mic is called the Snowball.  We got a couple of these for our studio here at the office.  The intent was to provide them for our writers so they could create quick demos in their writing sessions. Immediately, I realized how useful these little mics could be. They are so simple, and the cool factor is a 10!

Gunk & Gutie Gear Review: Blue Snowball USB Mic from Worship Together on Vimeo.

Listen to a demo of Matt Maher's "Lay It Down" that we made in 10 minutes using the Snowball:

How It Works
To start, there are no drivers or software to install. It is a true plug and play product.  Second, this is a studio grade condenser microphone.  The quality is far beyond anything else in this price range, costing just $100.  Third, there is nothing else to buy.  There are no XLR cables and no interface. Everything you need comes in the box.  The Snowball even comes with a sweet little desktop mic stand.

If you are a Mac user, plug in the USB cable, open up Garageband, and create a new “real instrument” track. Then go to preferences/Audio-midi, and select the Snowball as your audio input. That’s it; you are ready to go.  If you are a PC user, just plug in the USB cable, choose the Snowball as your sound recording device in the control panel, and open up your audio software of choice.

Potential uses for the Snowball
I would imagine a lot of you are worship leaders that have either written, or thought about writing songs.  You can use this mic to create quality recordings of your songs to burn to a CD or record ideas and melodies that are being developed.  My wife plays piano and sings, but she has trouble finishing songs simply because of time and unfinished lyrics.  While I have my studio set up in the next room, I don’t want to record her songs until they are finished.  Last night, I handed her the laptop and the Snowball and told her to demo her ideas.  At the end of the evening, she had 3 great sounding demos.  I can see the Snowball being used for a number of church applications as well.  It is perfect for podcasts, video voice-overs (for all those low budget church videos), as well as simply recording church services.

Get the Snowball, Recording Software & Headphones for $99
Now through the holidays Costco Online is offering the Snowball, Mackie Tracktion 3 Recording Software (a $100 value) and Koss UR40 headphones all for just $99! This deal won’t last forever.  It’s a $240 value, so we encourage you to go get it today!